


At Your Side

by orphan_account



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Final Haikyu Quest, Final Haikyu Quest, M/M, Romance, Violence, demon king!oikawa, kuroo are you fucking kidding me, there is mention of drowning but no drowning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-14
Updated: 2015-08-23
Packaged: 2018-04-14 17:41:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4573743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A quest, an accidental demon summoning, and awkward feelings.</p><p>Haikyuu quest au!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> aaaaa this is my first haikyuu fic 
> 
> this au gives me life

When they are both young with stars in their eyes and the entire world at their fingertips, Iwaizumi meets Oikawa.

Iwaizumi is seven and scrawny, with tan skin from playing under the sun and dusty shoes. He is bold and adventurous and daring, or so he likes to think, wearing the scrapes and scabs like medals of honor. Everyday he wakes at eight in the morning, finishes his chores as quickly as possible, eats his breakfast, gives his mother a kiss on the cheek and his father a hug and ventures out to explore the forest that surrounds their village. 

(Not too far, his mother calls at his back. There are monsters out there!)

Iwaizumi always listens to his mother, but not this time.

"Good morning, Iwaizumi-kun!" he hears as he runs out the front door, grabbing the bug net that lays under the brush. It's their neighbour, a friendly old woman with fading hair and sunken eyes. She would tend to her flowers every morning, drop her glasses in the dirt, then spends the rest of the morning looking for them. He waves back, and feels guilty that he never bothers to remember her name. "Good morning!" he calls back, dashing away, and although the woman's voice is tired and old, he still hears what she answers with.

"Not too far, dearie! There are monsters out there!"

Iwaizumi knows. That's why he runs out there, nearly every day, into the forest.

Their village was built for knights and adventurers as a sort of pit stop, only a mere hundred years ago. It lays at the summit of a mountain, surrounded by forest as far as the eye could see. The forest was magical, the mountain was magical, and to Iwaizumi, a mere seven years old, it was the most amazing, mysterious thing he'd ever heard of. His parents had told him that the forest had been made the same time the village had been, in order to protect it. They both shared a name, Aoba Jousai, and Iwaizumi wondered what kind of person would have enough magic to create an entire forest. 

When he asked, his parents fell suddenly silent. "Hajime," his father would say, "you're too young to know about that." His mother would nod alongside him. 

At the time, Iwaizumi thought it was uncommon knowledge, but learned that it really wasn't. One day, while shopping for bread, he'd overheard a villager telling a passerby knight about it.

At the top of the mountain that Iwaizumi lived under, was a grand castle. Apparently, it was rather luxurious, and as big as their village, if not bigger. It had large chandeliers and ballrooms and tall staircases and gold and servants- Iwaizumi was amazed at the thought- such a place existed so close to their rustic village?

"But," the villager continued telling to the now excited knight, "it's a horrid castle. You must never go there if you value your life, traveler."

(Even at his young age, Iwaizumi can tell he's not listening anymore, his eyes are alight with the idea of the castle, and castles mean wealth, and Iwaizumi can see it, the greed in his eyes, the promise of gold and precious stones filling his head with ideas, ideas of going there, taking the wealth for himself-)

"It belongs to demons, you know," the villager continues, unperturbed. "They control that entire mountain, and if you take one step onto it, a horrid fate will befall you. You will die a terrible death if you disturb them." Iwaizumi gulps at the thought, surely the knight will not go up there anymore-

The knight throws his head back and laughs, pushing golden hair out of his face, flaunting his muscles and armour, which glistens in the sunlight. "Demons? Why, old man, I am a knight. I've bested both man and monster alike! I've saved countless dames! I could- I can defeat anyone and anything in my path!" He chuckles some more, and Iwaizumi watches on with curiosity. A knight, he muses to himself, a knight. 

The knight draws his sword and grins at the onlookers (Iwaizumi didn't even notice the people around him, listening to them as well?) and some of them flush pink and continue on with what they're doing, and some, like himself, watch silently. 

"My gratitude to you, old man. I will surely return with riches and give some to you!" And with that, the blond is off, one hand in the air waving goodbye. Iwaizumi stares at his fading back, and a woman next to him snorts. She wears an expression of disgust and twirls blond hair around one finger.

"He's going to die, the fool."

(In the middle of the night, her suspicions are confirmed when suddenly, in the middle of town, a rod of lightning touches down and with it- the knight's blood splattered armour and his injured body, handsome features twisted into despair. Iwaizumi isn't allowed out of the house for the next week.)

.

Iwaizumi is even more curious about the forest and the mountain now.

.

When Iwaizumi reaches the forest, he takes a deep breath and steps inside.

He'd always entered the forest from the same path, underneath the dark branches of tall, tall trees. Running a hand through his hair to check for leaves, he continues on down a path, clenched hand on his net, and the farther he goes, the darker it gets, the more the path fades until it fades completely, and Iwaizumi is now more aware than ever of slight movement, of even his own breath.

Iwaizumi would always turn left once he reached a certain point, away from the mountain, but today he felt something buzz inside of him, telling him to turn, turn right, trust me. 

So he turns right.

There is no longer spaces between the trees to walk, and even for a child, the spaces to get between are tight, and since it's dark, Iwaizumi struggles to get through. He slips through the low branches, and under bushes, and he doesn't even know where he's going. Once he realizes it, he swears under his breath. 

"I'm lost, aren't I?" he laughs shakily to himself, running fingers through his dirt-caked hair. He can feel tears threaten to fall from his eyes and wills them away, aware of the fact that this forest was seemingly endless and that he might never, ever get out- Iwaizumi was going to die here, wasn't he? 

Panic fills him suddenly and his breathing was quicker, his heart was pounding and his vision was swimming. Knees shaky, he backs into a tree, hand clutching at his shirt, trying to calm his unsteady heart-

 

"Hey!" a high pitched voice calls. "Someone's down there, right? Help me!"

Iwaizumi turns so quickly he falls to his butt. "W-Who's there?" he calls, whipping his head side to side, seeing no one. (I've lost it, Iwaizumi thinks to himself.)

"Up here!" the voice shouts, shaky, and true to their words, a figure is up there in the branches, waving one hand side to side. Iwaizumi gapes up at the person. "That's so high! How did you get up there!" He shouts back, but the figure waves a dismissive hand at them.

"Never mind that! There's a giant, freaky, disgusting creature down there on the trunk! Get it for me please- Now!" they scream, and Iwaizumi jumps back a meter, wary of monsters. 

"Don't worry!" Iwaizumi calls, raising his bug net, hoisting it over his shoulder. He narrows his eyes to the branch, preparing himself to see a horrid creature of some sort, a demon perhaps, and he is instead greeted by the sight of a stag beetle, nearly the size of his palm. He blinks once. Twice. Iwaizumi looks up at the figure in the trees, confused.

"Where is this disgusting creature?" Iwaizumi demands, and although he can't see the person's face clearly, he is certain that they're rolling their eyes at him. 

"The bug, you dummy! It's so gross- ugh!" they reply, and now Iwaizumi is rolling his eyes. "The freaky creature you speak of- it's the bug, isn't it." 

"Yes!" they scream. "Get rid of- Just kill it or something, please I can't-" and Iwaizumi hears real fear in their voice, so he sighs and picks it up gently, putting it on the ground, and it scurries away rapidly. 

"Thank you," they breathe out, and something inside Iwaizumi's head is telling him to run, now. Run while you have the chance, and don't look back. But Iwaizumi doesn't feel like he needs to, and he feels like he can't even move, even if he wanted to, he couldn't escape from what was about to come. 

"My name is Oikawa Tooru!" the person yells, apparently Oikawa...? Iwaizumi can't even prepare for him as Oikawa runs off the tall branch and hollers.

"Catch!" And there is a person flinging themselves at him at the highest velocity, arms outstretched, jumping off the tree.

"Hey! You idiot- I- Woah!" Iwaizumi topples to the ground with someone in his arms, and his back hits the dirt, but he can't even think about the pain right now. Iwaizumi is at a loss for words looking at this person, who seems to be the same age and height as him.

It's a boy, who although young, was more beautiful than most women in his village. He had messy brown hair, rosy cheeks, and starry eyes the color of caramel. In Iwaizumi's arms, he was thin and surprisingly warm. He wore simple pants and a white shirt, and Iwaizumi noticed small lumps on his head. Oikawa stared back at him, wonder in his own eyes, and Iwaizumi wondered how long they spent just looking at each other, how long he spent in his arms before settling on something to say.

"You could've died, dumbass!" Iwaizumi hardly swears, at the tender age of seven, but he felt as if swearing at this time seemed appropriate. Oikawa blinks at him, then his expression changes from one of wonder to one of exaggerated hurt.

"You're so mean to me!" Oikawa says, and suddenly his gaze is hard and calculating, and he seems years older. Iwaizumi fights down his gulp.

"I don't even know your name." he said suddenly, then gasped and raised a hand to his mouth. "I don't even know your name!" Oikawa practically shouts, drawing out the 'a' for far longer than necessary.

"So?" Iwaizumi retorts, pushing the other boy off of him. He regrets it instantly when the other boy's face falls.

"So tell me your name!" Oikawa beams, and it's hard to look at, because this boy beams like the sun- Iwaizumi swallows. He knows he's not supposed to talk to strangers, so he comes up with a fake name on the spot.

Iwaizumi looked at the ground. "My name is Sor-"

"Don't lie."

Suddenly, the surrounding area felt extremely cold, and shivers traveled down his spine. He looked back up at Oikawa, who's expression was horrifying. But then he noticed Iwaizumi's stare and fixed his expression.

"Sorry!" The boy grinned, but that seemed creepy too. "I just really don't like liars. And besides..." Oikawa crossed the distance between them suddenly. "Friends don't lie to each other, do they?"

The other boy struggles to regain his composure. "Are we friends?"

"You saved my life!" Oikawa said, almost tenderly.

"From a bug..." Iwaizumi murmurs, but Oikawa ignores it, busying himself by tucking a strand of his hair behind his ear. 

He knows he's going to regret this.

"Iwaizumi. Iwaizumi Hajime." he mutters, and suddenly Oikawa glows with happiness.

"Iwa-chan, then!" he declares, and Iwaizumi stares at him, shocked. Oikawa makes a face. "You know, if you make faces like that, people will think you're super ugly, Iwa-chan. Not that people probably already do, which I wouldn't blame them for, but whatever."

And Iwaizumi already regrets this.

.

Iwaizumi regrets it even more in the future, looking at Oikawa. He wonders if, ten years ago, he hadn't turned right, or he hadn't moved that bug, they would've never met, and Iwaizumi would move on, becoming a farmer, marry a pretty woman, and have two children.

Oikawa is sporting a smirk, and he waves his hand at him, and Iwaizumi curses his heart for stuttering.

"Come, Iwa-chan! Stand at my side like you used to! They can't take you from me!"

And even as he draws his sword and takes in the sight of his comrades, bleeding and bruised, the castle around him ablaze, he wonders if would go back and change anything.

No. He wouldn't change a thing.

.

But, as he is now, he has no knowledge of the future ahead of him as Oikawa, seven years old, takes his hand and directs him through the forest.

He is lost and his only guide is a boy he had just met, and for now, Iwaizumi thinks that is enough.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really surprised people like this. Thank you very much!
> 
> i should tell you right now that this isn't going to be a fluffy story

“Close your eyes, Iwa-chan.”

It is not the last time he will trust Oikawa like this.

.

“Were you in love with him?”

….

“… Not at that time. I was seven.”

“So you were in love with him!”

Iwaizumi laughs, but there is no venom in the sound.

“Unfortunately,” he continues, and the boy listening is bouncing around, his bright orange hair flopping all over the place. His eyes are wide and shine, and Iwaizumi can’t help but smile at his expression.

“Do you want me continue?” He knows the answer, but can’t help but ask anyway. If possible, the boy seems to get more cheerful- sunlight personified, Iwaizumi muses.

“Yes! I want to know everything about you and the Grand King- I mean Oikawa! How did you become a knight? What’s it like to be in love?”

The boy is swiftly hit by a fist by the other young man next to him. Unlike sunshine boy, he had dark hair, dark eyes, and an even darker expression.   
“That’s too personal, you dumbass!” He shouts, and sunshine shoots him a look- It’s supposed to be threatening, but Iwaizumi thinks it looks far too cute on his face to be.

“Kageyama, you don’t need to hit me!” he replies angrily, attempting to attack him back.

"It fucking sucks," Iwaizumi declares suddenly, arms folded across his chest, nodding to himself. The two bickering boys turn quickly to him, their eyes practically glowing. Even as much as the boy with resting bitch face tried to hide it, Iwaizumi knew he was immersed in his story. "It really fucking sucks. It gets in your way, like a really big wall or something." Kageyama nods along like he understands his horrible analogy. Sunshine puts a hand to his chin, deep in thought. Iwaizumi hears him whisper under his breath 'a fucking annoying wall... Got it.'

Iwaizumi spreads his arms and sighs. "You can't stop thinking about that person, little interactions, daydreams... You want to be by their side always, to hear their voice, to look at them. You think that seeing them happy is enough, but you want to be the one making them happy. You'll try to convince yourself that you really don't like them." Iwaizumi trails off, and Kageyama perks up immediately. 

"...Is there a way to prevent it? Falling in love, I mean." Kageyama's face flushes as soon as the words leave his mouth, and Sunshine turns his head to look up at him, an odd look on his face.

Iwaizumi thinks of nights he spent with Oikawa. Thinks about his face, his stupid face, making rude expressions at him, sticking his tongue out at him, looking down at him through his eyelashes like he wasn't probably wasn't the spawn of satan or fucking evil- thinks of milk bread and ruined shirts and that one time they ran from an entire angry village wielding swords because that moron couldn't back down from a stupid challenge- and thinks of ruined relationships and broken swords and his broken bones and wow, was Oikawa an ugly crier- and decides.

"I don't think so. Once you realize your feelings, there is no way to stop them from overflowing."

.

Iwaizumi returns to his village that same day he meets Oikawa, and he realizes it isn't even noon yet. He steps inside his village and has to stop himself from kissing the ground underneath him- he was so afraid he'd never return.

Oikawa had taken him by the hand, leading him through the darkness, and smiled a toothy smile and purred out one sentence:

Don't ask questions.

Now that he was back, he'd turned, fully expecting to see Oikawa standing behind him, making one of his faces that ruined his looks, all nonchalant. But there was nothing but the wide expanse of forest behind him. Iwaizumi blinked twice, then shrugged and kept walking toward his house. He'd never been so early for lunch before, but there were firsts for everything, including meeting a strange looking kid with strange tendencies. He'd probably see him around anyway- the village wasn't so large.

(Had he seen Oikawa before, in the village?)

Iwaizumi knew all the kids his age, girls with long dresses and short hair, boys with knobby knees, that one kid whom he never bothered to ask his name because he was an ass, Kenma, who never left the house until prompted. He had talked to Kenma once or twice before, he wasn't too bad, although he was quiet and never got his nose out of his books. Iwaizumi knew he didn't like people, so usually they interacted by Iwaizumi sitting down next to him while Kenma's mom forced him outside, and they sat. No words were exchanged. Once or twice, they had actually fallen asleep on each other, so Iwaizumi knew he wasn't disliked by Kenma. Once, Kenma had waved a hand in front of Iwaizumi and smiled slightly.

"Watch."

A blue flame had erupted all over his hand, dancing around his arm and lighting up his face, but it was gone as soon as it appeared. Iwaizumi wasn't any less amazed by it, however.

"Holy shit!" he'd exclaimed, shocking Kenma back a foot. "That was amazing! You can perform magic? Wow!" Kenma had suddenly found an interest in the ground beneath him, fiddling with his fingers.

"...It's not that great. Some people are better than me."

"That doesn't make it any less amazing!" Iwaizumi had declared, eyes shining, fists clenched. "Don't ever sell yourself short like that, honestly. You're good enough as you are."

Iwaizumi felt he had gotten a little closer to Kenma that day. 

 

And then, there was Kuroo.

Kuroo was strange. He had internal bedhead, and lazy eyes, and a smirk that never seemed to leave his face. He held himself confidently, and seemed to glide whenever he walked- he stayed at Kenma's side so often, Iwaizumi could hardly think of a time he saw them apart. Even when he and Kenma sat together under the sun, Kuroo would appear sooner rather than later, plopping himself right next to Kenma, always. Kuroo seemed more interested in watching Kenma than watching the world around him, like he held the world's secrets.

But Kuroo was strange in the way that Iwaizumi had never seen him before, ever.

He appeared one day in the village and Iwaizumi swore that he had never seen him before. However, when he asked around about Kuroo, they had said Kuroo had been here for as long as they could remember. Stories about him differ- His parents abandoned him here, he ran away from home, his family had gone to the castle never to return, but they all claimed that he didn't just appear yesterday, what are you talking about, Iwaizumi-kun?

He avoided Kuroo as much as he could.

Lost in his thoughts, he hadn't even realized he was home, in his front yard. Opening the door and putting down his trusty bug net, he saw his mother stirring a pot of something and his father peeling potatoes- horribly, he might add, and when they noticed him they looked up from what they were doing and grinned.

"Welcome home, Hajime!" They beamed at the same time.

Home was a small place, a kitchen that fit two people at best, dark wooden chairs and tables, squeaky doors. His parents room didn't even have a door while he, himself, had one. The ceiling was far too low in some places for his father, and the windows were cracked and howled late at night with the wind, but it was home.

His mother had long, curled brown hair that went to her hips, and tan skin. Hajime had inherited her eyebrows, tan skin and fiery attitude, but really, he looked more like his father, except for the fact that his father had glasses and had somehow managed to tame his spiky hair- unlike Hajime, who really didn't mind.

Without even asking, he took the knife from his father along with the potato, and attempted to fix his messy peeling skills. His father whimpered in the background but allowed Hajime to take over for him, sighing and went to wash the used utensils. "So, how was adventuring, Hajime?" he asked, busying himself with a slippery dish.

"It was fine," Hajime responded, uninterested. They always asked, and he always answered the same way, it was fine. "But I met a boy today. He was kind of stupid."

"Language, Hajime," his mother chided, swatting him softly on the back of his head.

"Stupid isn't a bad word!"

Rolling her eyes, his mother returned to her pot. "You met someone? I thought you knew all the children in the village?"

Hajime shrugged, and put the potato and the knife down. "I thought I did. His name is Oikawa Tooru, I think."

The adults froze, and turned to look at Hajime, worry in their eyes. "Oikawa Tooru? You met him?"

Surprised, Hajime met their eyes and flinched back a little once he saw the terror in their eyes. He ran a dirty hand through dirtier hair, confused. "Yeah. That's what he said his name was. Oikawa Tooru."

His mother ran to the door, her pot left alone to bubble over. She started screaming, and his father lifted him up onto the table, lifting up his shirt, peering into his eyes. "You're okay, right?" he demanded. "That... That thing didn't touch you at all, right?"

Slightly embarrassed, Hajime pulled his shirt down, looking off to the side. "Of course not!" he lies, thinking about the way he jumped into his arms. He looks down at the hand Oikawa had grabbed, and closes it into a fist. "Why, dad?"

His father uses both hands to grab his face, and stares Hajime deep in the eyes. He can't help but shudder a little- this was the first time in all of his seven years that Hajime had ever seen him so serious.

"That... Oikawa Tooru is the name of the child of whom we in the village know as the demon king."

.

Later that day, all sorts of people come up to him, young and old, asking about Oikawa.

"What does he look like?"

"Is it true that one look from a demon makes you feel like you should die?"

"Did he try to kill you?"

"How are you even alive?"

The last question sends a shock through Iwaizumi, and he thinks back to wide, caramel eyes and sloppy smiles. 

"I don't think he could kill anyone...?" It comes out as a question, yet nobody hears him. The doctors (a whopping number of two) look him over, much to his eternal embarrassment. They check his pulse, shine a light in his eyes, and ask him simple questions. Finally, and Iwaizumi can hardly believe this- They sprinkle holy water onto his head, and he can't stop the laughter from shaking his shoulders and escaping his lips. He is near tears- holy shit, they just used holy water on him.

"Don't laugh!" his mother scolds him once they get home, and she picks up his bug net from the ground, tossing it from hand to hand. "For the next week, you are not allowed to even be near the forest- don't even breathe around it! Stay close to home!"

Hajime looks at her, shocked. His jaw falls to the ground, and he clenches his fists at his side. "I can't- Why?" The brunette demands, and he feels legitimately angry for some reason. Oikawa didn't hurt him. There was no proof that he was a demon in the first place!

"It's not safe out there, Hajime!"

"But mot-"

"Why can't you understand?!" his mother finally snaps, "Demons are dangerous! You will die if you mess around like that with them!"

"He didn't even try to-" Hajime tries to intercept, but his mother cuts him off. 

"Go to your room, now."

"Oikawa isn't-"

"I SAID NOW, IWAIZUMI HAJIME!"

The child swallows down the lump in his throat and storms off to his room, fighting down hot tears. Hajime doesn't even know why he is so angry, why his mother is so angry, why he is crying. Leaping onto his bed, he hides his tears from the world from being scolded, and from simply not understanding.

(But Iwaizumi thinks to himself that the day is young, and thinks, and thinks some more. He'll ask Oikawa himself if he is a demon.)

.

Late at night, when Iwaizumi knows there are only few awake in the village, he sneaks out of his house, careful not to make the floors squeak. His feet move silently over the wooden boards, and he turns the handle of the front door carefully open, and then closed. Iwaizumi then dashes down the streets, careful not to be seen or get caught under lights. The forest isn't far away from his house, so he's sure to get there in time before anyone catches him.

He reaches it and steps in, and immediately regrets it. 

It's obviously much darker than it would be in daylight.

Iwaizumi contemplates going back and getting a candle from the streets, or perhaps his house, so he turns around, expecting the path. Instead, he is faced with darkness. (Just how far did he walk?) 

The brunette swears he can hear every single movement from the trees, every single rustle in the leaves. He knows firsthand- there are monsters in the woods. Iwaizumi was just lucky he'd never run into many violent ones. 

Keeping his head high, he walks in the direction he came from, expecting to be out of the forest quickly, but he ends up walking for awhile into darkness. Iwaizumi scowls at the sky. 

"I really should have at least brought a candle. What was I thinking?" He growls, kicking his feet at the dusty ground.

"Really, I don't think that you were thinking at all, Iwa-chan!"

Iwaizumi screams at the top of his lungs, caught unaware from the voice behind him. But he knows of only one person who calls him Iwa-chan.

"Oikawa, you stupid, stupid idiot!" Iwaizumi snaps at him, twisting his body around to see- nothing. "Where are-"

"Well, I'm not over there, Iwa-chan," Oikawa replies, and he is right next to Iwaizumi's ear, close enough that he can feel his breath on his skin, causing goosebumps to unravel over his body.

"How did you-" Iwaizumi whirls around again, and he can barely see Oikawa's smug face, but Iwaizumi knows he's there. Making a face at him. Again.

"Why are you even here, Iwa-chan? It's dangerous on the mountain~" Oikawa spoke instead, his eyes searching his face for a reaction.

"I'm on the mountain?" 

"Congratulations! You can repeat things people just said! Good for you, Iwa-chan, learning everyday!"

Iwaizumi headbutts him, and he feels, rather than sees, Oikawa fall to the dirt, holding a hand to his face. "You're so mean to me, Iwa-chan!"

"Shut it. I came to ask you something, Oikawa."

"My secrets for a beautiful face? Because, if I'm being honest, nothing would be able to fix your face. I can't perform miracles!"

Iwaizumi, out of the goodness of his heart, ignores him and cuts right to the chase. "Are you a demon, Oikawa?"

Something in the air shifts around them. "Why do you ask, Iwa-chan?"

"I told my parents about you. I told them your name, then they started freaking out. Plus, we're the only village around here, and I've never seen you before."

Oikawa giggles. "I could just be a traveler who shares the same name as the demon's son~"

"I didn't say anything about no demon's son, Oikawa."

There is a pause. "Lucky guess?" Oikawa mumbles, more to himself than Iwaizumi.

"Are you kidding me?" Iwaizumi retorts. "You've gotta be kidding me."

"Even if I was," Oikawa murmured. His eyes gleam red- Iwaizumi notices with a jolt. "What would you even do about it, Iwa-chan?"

"...Nothing. We're friends, aren't we?" Iwaizumi prays to every diety out there that demons don't come with see-in-the-dark powers, there is heat rising to his cheeks and even with his tan skin, it seems noticeable.

Oikawa's eyes stop glowing, and Iwaizumi can tell, even in the dark of night, that Oikawa is gaping at him.

"...Iwa-chan, your kindness doesn't really distract from your monkey face, you know?"

Iwaizumi can't believe him at all.

.

"Did you fall for him then?" Sunshine asks, getting up in Iwaizumi's face, his eyes gleaming.

"Hinata, sit your ass down!" Kageyama pulls him down by the hem of his shirt. He looks over at Iwaizumi, his face attempting to twist into something apologetic. "I'm sorry for this uncontrollable idiot."

Iwaizumi laughs again, while Hinata attempts to pounce Kageyama. "Nope, nope and nope. I think he was just interesting to me back then."

"And now?" Iwaizumi suddenly doesn't know who asked him that question, but it halts his train of thought.

What was Oikawa to him now?

Glancing over the looming castle in the distance, Iwaizumi could only feel rage, but realized it wasn't towards Oikawa at all.

He thinks to himself, brows furrowed. Iwaizumi still loves him, but can't bring himself to say anything.

"I don't know. I really don't know."

Iwaizumi wonders what Oikawa thinks of him right now.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...I apologize for this entire chapter.

Oikawa is told at a young age that demons cannot feel the same emotions that humans do.

It is with terrifying memory of which he remembers what his father tells him, years later; that demons could only understand the seven deadly sins, lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride.

His father also instructs him to use those ‘feelings’ to take advantage of the lesser beings they know as humans.

Oikawa’s head is spinning, a murky mess of thoughts and wishes. Oikawa Tooru does not know, and will never know of love. He knows about it, for sure; he was brought into the world from his father and a woman he’d never refer to as his mother. That woman claimed to love his father, to never leave his side. His mother was kind and cheerful and teasing and he didn't understand her in the slightest.

Love is an odd, odd thing.

For one, Oikawa cannot understand why one would want to live for anyone else but themselves- when bringing up the subject to his father, he merely brushed it off as mere 'human things’ that higher beings could never understand.

Oikawa approached his mother one day for the topic.

“Mother. Do you love father?” He’d started, blinking up at her through thick lashes.

(Now, Oikawa’s mother is a hazy blur. He cannot remember her face, or her eyes. Oikawa had never bothered to try.)

“Of course I do, Tooru!” She’d exclaimed, smiling.

“I don’t love you,” Oikawa continues innocently. “I don’t know you, and I can’t comprehend your emotions.” He beams up at her, unaware of the horrified expression on her face.

“Father doesn’t love you,” Oikawa looks up into her eyes (what color were they?) and regards the fear in her eyes with half disinterest, half laziness. “We physically can’t.”

His mother is backing away now, biting into her lower lip. “Yes… But I thought if I stayed by his side, he would learn to… I don’t- Tooru!”

“What does love feel like, exactly, mother?” Oikawa is prowling towards her now, as if she were prey, his eyes gleaming. “Tell me.”

(Why is she so afraid?)

“Love is… Painful,” his mother chokes on her own words. “A good sort of pain.”

Oikawa raises an eyebrow. “What sort of pain is good?”

She approaches him slowly, as if trying to calm a beast. “I promise that you will understand love, and other human emotions, Tooru.” Her smile is shaky, and she pulls him into an embrace. “If my love can reach you, that would be my greatest accomplishment- as your mother.”

Her embrace is cold.

(Oikawa feels something hollow in his chest when she passes a week later from her weak stature, and wonders if that counts as an emotion that she would want him to experience. It feels different, so Oikawa fixes his attitude in order to feel emotions like the hollow emptiness in his chest.)

His father doesn’t seem to feel the same.

(Oikawa changes his personality to the one thing he remembers about his mother- the teasing, cheerful attitude that his mother gains around his father, to attempt to understand.)

However, the small child cannot think of a way to understand the sudden rush of water down his face.

.

So what kind of emotions would Oikawa tie to Iwa-chan?

Pride wells up in his chest when Iwa-chan learns how to properly wield a blade.

He is envious of him, of the people that surround him, who he calls friends.

Oikawa feels angry at him all the time, but it is fleeting- the feeling disappears from him when Iwa-chan smiles, or does something kind to him, hand behind his neck, eyes trained to the side, flush apparent.

Gluttony and sloth are really not things Oikawa feels around Iwa-chan, either.

But greed consumes him on a daily basis.

Oikawa hates people that can touch him so casually. He hates that Iwa-chan smiles at everyone, is kind to everyone, would do the things Oikawa would ask him to do- but also turn and do the same things for other people.

He wants to monopolize him.

Tie him down somewhere, kiss him, not let anyone else see him. He wishes to be the only person in his eyes.

Oikawa wants Iwa-chan all to himself.

But Oikawa knows that it would make Iwa-chan unhappy if he were to lock him away, or keep him to himself. These sort of thoughts were wrong, and Oikawa pushes them down, far from the surface, so they can be happy together.

(He thinks about the low, longing curl in his gut, and the sharp predatorial look that Iwa-chan occasionally lets surface, and Oikawa swallows long and hard. Lust.)

How could anyone be so dense as to how attractive they are?

Oikawa thinks about Iwa-chan a lot. He thinks about sharing beds and lighthearted conversations and warm embraces, and if he could say something again to his late father, he tell him that he could feel emotions. That he can't take advantage of feelings. that he can't ever be who his father wants him to be.

But he won’t ever hear it.

.

Iwa-chan shows up in the woods the next day, and the day after that. It’s become such a common occurrence, Oikawa can hardly think of a day where Iwa-chan hasn’t been with him. Everyday they play together, catching fish, playing tag, and sometimes, Oikawa will show him his magic- bright bursts of lightning, shadow curling around his wrists, and leathery wings.

"My wings are pretty small, compared to my father's."

Iwa-chan isn't listening anymore, his eyes locked on them. They're hardly a foot long each, still in development, but Iwa-chan thinks they're the greatest things in the world.

"Can you fly with them?" he inquires, circling Oikawa's body. He reaches a hand out nervously, but when Oikawa doesn't shy away, he determinedly puts a hand on them. Oikawa knows first handedly that they're softer than they look, so he relishes in Iwa-chan's surprised face.

"Kind of." He flutters over the ground for a few seconds, but drops ungracefully on his face.

Iwa-chan laughs, and Oikawa throws a stone at him. He doesn't really mind Iwa-chan laughing, for the sound in itself is rare.

iwa-chan looks like he's trying to hold in questions, his mouth twisting and his face scrunching up, so Oikawa attempts to indulge him.

"If I don't make them disappear with my magic, I can't sleep on my back. They also are really sensitive!" 

"Who said I wanted to know, you dunce?" Iwa-chan spits out instead, trying to seem angry.

"Well, you had a face that looked like you needed to poop, so I assumed-"

"I did not, Trashkawa!"

"Mean!"

(Iwa-chan takes his hand later and tries to teach him to not be afraid of bugs. Oikawa is still afraid, but he keeps in his disgust so that their fingers are weaved together longer.)

 

“Iwa-chan, Iwa-chan.”

No response.

“Iwa-chaaaaaan!”

“I can hear you, you idiot!” Iwa-chan shouts at him, fists clenched.

Oikawa is not moved in the slightest. “Iwa-chan, if you’re thinking so hard without a brain, you’ll just hurt your head!”

Iwa-chan headbutts him, the brute. “Ow! Honestly Iwa-chan, don’t you know any manners?”

"I have a question about... The demon thing." Iwaizumi states without even acknowledging Oikawa's pain.

Oikawa chuckles, but inside he is screaming, fearful, did Iwa-chan not want to be by his side anymore? Did he finally listen to the adults in his village?

"Did you kill that guy?"

Oikawa blinks. "You're going to have to be specific, Iwa-chan! Which one are you referring to?"

"It's the wrong thing to say, because Iwa-chan is backing away, an expression of terror on his face. "Just kidding, just kidding!" Oikawa sticks out his tongue.

"That's not something you kid about, you absolute moron!" Iwa-chan retorts, still tense. Oikawa narrows his eyes, then forces his shoulders to relax.

"I don't kill people. I've never killed anyone!" Oikawa is grinning now, but his grin is too wide to be real. "Trust me, it was all my father!"

Iwa-chan finally loses the line between his brow, and the other boy's grin twists into something more honest.

"...You sure?"

"Positive, Iwa-chan!" He gestures to himself, dramatically posing. "Could this face ever tell a lie?"

Iwa-chan scrutinizes Oikawa's face. "Yes," he finally decides on. "Yes, it could."

But Iwa-chan isn't done. "Tell your father killing is wrong." he declared, hands on his hips, and Oikawa could only look at him in awe. "It's really wrong, even if you guys are demons."

"...I will."

"Hey! What's with that pause?"

(Oikawa does tell him, but as usual, his father doesn't listen. He stands in the throne room for a good minute, then leaves without speaking again.)

.

In the village, Iwaizumi is watched with both fearful and angry eyes. 

"Did you hear?"

"That boy is friends with a demon!"

"Super scary... I hope he doesn't kill us."

"Why can't we just kill him? I mean, he's probably possessed or something..."

"Idiot! If we attack him, we'll be targeted by the demon!"

Iwaizumi gets home and his parents flinch when he walks through the door.

"I'm... Home." He sets his bug net down on the floor, and sits at the table. "What are we having for dinner?"

His parents avoid his eyes, but his mother speaks. "First, get in the bath."

"Wait, why? I always eat before I go-" Iwaizumi tries to say, but his father picks him up without warning. "Dad? Dad!?" He flails around, but his father's grip on his body tightens.

"Don't ask questions. Please. We only want the best for you, Hajime." His mother whispers, hands clenched in her dress.

Their bathtub is a rickety wooden thing, and it is filled to the brim with water. Iwaizumi is dumped unceremoniously into it, clothes and all. He shivers at the sudden cold. "Dad?" he asks, his voice barely a whisper.

"The doctor said-" his father swallows down a lump. "If we kept you under holy water for just under five minutes, you would be cleansed of the demon."

Iwaizumi's eyes are wide, and his heart is threatening to leap out of his chest. He might drown, he doesn't know how to swim, let alone hold his breath under water for more than ten seconds- "You're going to drown me?!" It comes out shaky.

"You're not going to die, Hajime!" his father's voice is trembling. Hands reach out for him, and they grab his shoulders. "This... Is for the best. People won't die, and most importantly, you won't go to Hell for interacting for a demon! That will be great! The doctor said you would recover!"

Iwaizumi sees the set jaw of his father, and the trembling in his voice had stopped. His heart is thrumming wildly in his chest, and it fills the room and echoes off the walls. He forces his shoulders to relax. "I understand."

He can see the relief on his father's face, and dread creeps up his throat. "Okay, Hajime, that's a good boy. I love you, I really do. I'll do it in ten-"

Iwaizumi splashes water rapidly at his father's face, and uses the two seconds of shock to leap out of the tub and run like hell out of the house. Iwaizumi slips a little on the floor, but doesn't fall. He is running purely on fear, and feelings of betrayal. There are hot tears running down his face. His mother is calling at his back, but he doesn't risk turning around, and he runs- Runs into the only place he knows they won't follow him.

Into the forest, where Oikawa is.


	4. Chapter 4

Kenma doesn’t mean to summon a literal demon.

It starts off smaller. His magic appears when he is far younger, when he can hardly remember anything. His father tells him that when Kenma was a baby, he’d cried and cried and suddenly rainclouds had taken shape under their roof, and his parents had struggled to keep Kenma from crying from that point on.

When he is slightly older, he remembers being forced outside, much to his displeasure. The children are all excited- they’ve never actually seen Kenma leave his home before. They crowd him and he’d never felt so suffocated in his life, they grab his arms and pull him in different directions, comment on how small he is, how strangely gold his eyes were. The boys look him up and down, and he knows he being made fun of by the looks in their eyes. There is a dark cloud gathering behind his thoughts, whittling away at his insecurities, and Kenma can’t take it anymore.

“Stop,” he commands, and although his voice is quiet, his actions are not. The children surrounding him are knocked off their feet by a gust of wind and blown far away, screeching in surprise. The sound in itself was violent- catching the attention of everyone in the area and he has never felt so small. The children on the floor start bawling, and Kenma sees that they are all scraped up and bleeding.

Everyone is looking at him with dark eyes, and he flees.

Kenma rarely leaves the house from then on.

 

“I have friends…” Kenma protests, tucking hair behind one ear. His mother stares him down, raising an eyebrow.

“Who?”

“Iwaizumi-”

“Not that boy,” his mother cuts him off. From behind her, his father shoots him a sympathetic look. It doesn’t aid Kenma’s growing discomfort.

“I do have another friend!” Kenma raises his voice higher, finally staring up into his mother’s eyes, and fights down the urge to look away.

“Then bring him here!”

“Fine.” Kenma heads up the stairs into his room, and tosses himself onto his bed, groaning. He doesn’t have another friend. He wishes he could just summon one and be done with the subject- Wait.

Lazily, he reaches under his pillows for the magic books that he hides from his parents (mostly his mother) and starts skimming the pages of one of the old, dusty tomes.

“Summoning…” He mutters under his breath. “Summoning elves, fairies, snakes, familiars…” His eyes catch small, almost unreadable script at the bottom of a page. Narrowing his eyes, he reads the words ‘human’, 'friendly’, and more sinister, 'blood.’

Kenma shrugs and decides that he could deal with the consequences later. Following the directions, he draws a circle on the floor along with the symbols, says a few words he doesn’t know in a different dialect, and stares at his hand before biting down on his thumb so blood spills.

Before hovering a trembling hand over the circle, he hesitates, then decides that whatever comes out of this circle would be easier to deal with than his mother any day.

(He is so very wrong.)

Not even a second after the drop hits the ground, a gust of smoke has Kenma reeling back, raising his arms in defense. His room is suddenly scorching hot and smelling of something earthy, and Kenma regrets everything because the force of it just ruined his entire room.

Laughter fills the air, and it booms and Kenma wonders how his mother isn’t already knocking on the door demanding to be let in.

A form is taking shape inside of the magic circle, and is human shaped, if you ignored the giant horns and the tail.

“WHO DARES- Oh, hello.” Says the figure, smoke clearing, and Kenma sees a tall man standing within it. He narrows his eyes at Kenma, and he forces himself not to flinch.

“Tell me,” the man says, leaning down to Kenma’s eye level. “Where is the person that summoned me?” Kenma can see that the man had dark, unruly hair and bright, almost catlike eyes. He had claws, and his tail was thin and pointed at the end, moving side to side like a dog. Definitely not human.

Instead of speaking, Kenma raises a hand in response, and the man starts laughing.

“No, really. I gotta know, kid.”

“It was me?” It comes out like a question.

"You can't actually be serious," The other raises himself up, searching the room with his eyes, and Kenma feels slightly bitter- his room was just ruined. The demon cackles, holding a hand to his face to block the sound. "I was summoned by a child. A mage child- but a child!" He laughs harder. "Bokuto is going to die when he hears this-" and the man snaps his fingers. Kenma flinches at the sound, expecting a horrible, excruciating death, but is met with nothing. 

Surprised, Kenma looks up to find that the human (?) inside the circle looked more confused than Kenma felt, snapping his fingers rapidly. "What the- Shit. I can't leave?!" He looks down at the circle, eyes searching, and then he sighs. "Shit. I actually can't leave!" He reaches out a clawed finger to touch the rim of the circle, but immediately draws back, hissing at some invisible force.

"Are you... Okay?" Kenma asks nervously, not quite meeting his eyes.

The demon monster thing grins, and it's toothy and feral. Kenma doesn't quite repress his shudder. "Peachy! I'm Kuroo, by the way! Kuroo Tetsurou!" Kuroo lifts a hand in greeting. "I would shake your hand, but if I try, I may die!"

A beat of silence passes before Kuroo raises an eyebrow. Kenma sighs. "I'm Kenma, Kozume Kenma."

"So, Kenma!" Kuroo claps his hands together, suddenly all business. "Why did you summon a demon? Do you want money? Wish to exact revenge on your rival? Want the love of your life to notice you?" He wiggles his eyebrows. "You're probably too young, but meh. What can I do you for?"

Kenma swallows his pride before responding. "My mom said I needed a friend I could show her, so I summoned you. But I didn't really want you..." Kenma trails off, looking to the side, and Kuroo blinks before laughing hard, shoulders shaking.

"Nonsense! Everybody wants me!" Kuroo gestures to his body, but Kenma merely blinks in disinterest. "A-hem. That's hilarious! I'll do it, I won't even ask for your soul in return. You're so lucky!"

"Thanks...?"

Kuroo snaps his fingers, and suddenly he shrinks down to the size of a human child, but still taller than Kenma. He looks over at him, and Kenma sighs, picking himself off the ground before running a finger through the lines of the circle, and the demon is free. Kuroo steps out like he is still six feet tall, smirking at the other boy.

"I'll leave when you bore me." Kuroo says, and Kenma thinks that he'll leave within the next hour, but he has never been more wrong.

.

 

Iwaizumi and Oikawa are ten and nine respectively when they decide to leave Aoba Jousai behind.

They are young and can only rely on each other, and they wonder about the consequences. They are mere children, and yet they take the other’s hand and walk without destination in mind.

 

Oikawa Tooru is the demon prince. He is the heir to the throne, destined by fate to rule the land. In this prophecy that his father tells him time and time again with something like pride, he rules alone over demons and humans alike.

“Must I rule? I mean, it’s not like the prophecy will come true…” Oikawa whispers, his fingers lacing together. He can’t look up at his father.

His father is practically on the brink of insanity, and his crazed eyes roll back in his head. “The mirror said so, Tooru! The mirror never lies!” His father summons a hand mirror that would look rather plain if not for the ghostly fog rolling out of it.

“Show me if there are any intruders climbing the mountain!” His father booms, sitting stroking his beard. The mirror shifts, and the fog is sucked into the mirror. Oikawa crosses the room to see the image clearly.

There are five men in armor hiking up the mountain, proud looks on their faces. They are laughing and pushing each other around playfully, shoulders shaking with laughter. Their destination is obvious, and Tooru sucks in a sharp breath.

“Is this how you…?” Tooru regards his father with large eyes.

Instead of responding, his father extends a single finger, and from it comes a bright burst of lighting, shooting out of the window. Tooru shields his eyes from the blinding flash and winces at the sound. Instead of watching the bolt, he focuses on the mirror and sees, just in time, the men getting hit violently by the burst of magic. It splits and goes through their chests, and Tooru fists his hands by his side.

"Father... No demon can know the future!" He shouts, but his father smirks.

“Tooru, listen to me. Long, long ago, we demons trapped an Oracle inside of this mirror. They gambled their soul against us, and lost.”

Tooru regards his father in horror, and he notices.

“Don’t tell me that brat is rubbing off on you again,” he shouts, crazed. “He’s a filthy human!”

Without thinking, Tooru opens his mouth to defend his friend. “Iwa-chan is not filthy!” His father raises an eyebrow at him, and Tooru expects the worst.

“Iwa-chan?”

Tooru swallows down the lump in his throat. “Iwa-chan is a brute, and he’s rude and thinks he’s super strong!” His face blazes. “But he’s kind and he’s caring and he's brave and cool!” Tooru pants heavily, having said all that in one breath.

Instead of answering, his father waves a hand in front of the mirror. “Show me Tooru’s future.”

Loud, horrified screams fill his ears. There is fire and endless nights and tears of excruciating pain. His hands are filthy, covered in blood and they are at someone’s throat. Tooru is sitting on his father’s throne, and his expression makes him catch his breath.

It’s pure anger.

“I’m going to kill you.” Future Tooru hisses, but the man merely chuckles.

“Do your worst! I want to die!”

Tooru laughs, throwing his head back. He wipes the blood off on his robes.

“Do you really think you’re getting off easily?” He snaps his fingers, and dark thorny vines wrap around the man’s limbs. They raise him up, and Tooru stands.

“I’m going to start with your hands!” Tooru beams and it's not pleasant, taking one into his palm. Without warning, he rips the nail of his middle finger off with a disgusting sound. The man flinches back, biting his lip.

“Oh? Are you quiet now? We’re just getting started!”

Tooru yanks his middle finger, and it comes clean off his hand. The Tooru who is watching shrieks alongside the other man.

“Father! No more, please!”

“But you haven’t seen the rest of your future yet! You haven't seen the towns!” His father practically giggles.

“NO MORE!” Tooru shouts, and the room shakes with the sound. The floor cracks and the chandelier above threatens to fall.

His father smiles lopsidedly. “Alright,” be responds, tossing the mirror at his son. Tooru catches it easily.

“Check if you have a different future with this… Iwa-chan of yours.” His voice is calm and cool, contrary to Tooru, who’s face is hot with anger. He wills his voice not to shake.

“I will!” He stomps out of the throne room, his grip so tight on the handle it seems to bend.

“I’m not evil,” Tooru whispers to himself. “I’m not.”

 

Down the corridors, he arrives at his room, ignoring the bed and instead, sitting on the window sill.

“Mirror… Could you um, show me my future with Iwa-chan?” It complies, shifting into an image.

Iwa-chan is standing in front of him, and although he is shorter, he seems to tower over him- Oikawa is hiding behind him, fists in his shirt. Iwa-chan is wearing a scary expression, shouting something, and the sword he carries is far too large for a child.

The fog shifts, and there is Iwa-chan again, scrapes and cuts and bruises all over his body, but he smiles with Oikawa with such fondness that he melts. He is holding a flower in his hands, and the Oikawa in the mirror sobs and leaps into his arms.

The mirror shifts again.

Oikawa cannot believe this in the slightest.

For one, he is covered in mud and sweat and other disgusting fluids he’d rather not think about, but the other thing bothers him far more than he’d like to admit.

Iwa-chan is gloriously handsome.

Not only is he too, covered in sweat and various substances, Iwa-chan looks good while drenched in sweat. He is older and his jaw looks sharp enough to cut through solid rock. His grip is firm around the hilt of a dark sword. Oikawa can’t tear his eyes away from his bulging muscles, and when Iwa-chan folds his arms across his chest, he catches himself drooling. Drooling! He wipes it away with the back of his hand.

When he’d asked his magic mirror to show him his future with Iwa-chan, Oikawa hadn’t expected this.

Future Iwa-chan turns to future Oikawa, and smirks lazily, running a messy hand through disheveled hair. Oh no. Ohhh no. Oikawa’s face heats up, and his hands raise up to his mouth, covering it in pure shock.

Iwa-chan’s lips part, and Oikawa leans forward, eyes bulging. “Tooru.”

The small heat across Oikawa’s face turns into a blazing fire. He squawks and leaps from his seat, and punches the mirror so hard his fist comes through the other side.

Tooru stares down at the damage in muted horror. “Oh no.”

The fog seems to shrink and dissipate around the shards of glass that scattered throughout the floor, shifting rapidly- A scene with Iwa-chan a few months ago in the forest, chasing him around with snowballs. A scene from last week, where Iwa-chan had miraculously fought off some sort of growling wolf with wings with a stick while Oikawa cheered him on from the safety of a bush. Iwa-chan had approached him after that with a headbutt, and for the rest of the day Oikawa tried to make it up to him by apologizing and attempting to make him laugh.

"My father will kill me." Oikawa gulps, and he picks up the pieces, hastily shoving some into his pockets, and some under the bed, and the rest he lights on fire, stomping it out afterwards. He leaps out the window, hoping to escape his demise for even just a minute longer.

 

Iwaizumi dashes like his life depends on it, and it probably does, stopping only when he trips over a tree root, and he scowls and picks himself up off the ground.

“Oikawa!” He shouts, voice filling the air. “Oikawa!”

For the very first time in the years that he knew him, Oikawa does not appear when he calls out.

Iwaizumi tries again. “Trashkawa!” His heart skips a beat, and he can’t believe how selfish he is. What if Oikawa was hurt? He can’t always think of himself in times like these.

His chest piles up with dread. Five more knights were climbing the mountain, Iwaizumi knew that. News spread quickly in his small village. He fists his hands into the dirt and forces his legs to run faster towards the mountain.

At the very base, he shouts up at the mountain, though he knows that his words may never reach. “Oikawa!” He cups his hands around his mouth. “Hey!”

Something drops down behind him and approaches Iwaizumi. “Iwa-chan you’re so- Woah! You’re soaked! What happened?!”

Oikawa. Iwaizumi sighs in relief and pulls the other into an embrace, and they tumble to the grass.

“You’re okay…” Iwaizumi buries his head into Oikawa’s shoulder. Oikawa looks at him for a moment, and then smiles a little.

“Of course I am! I’m a great and powerful demon! Nothing can harm me!” He declares, and is rewarded with a smack to his other shoulder. “But what happened to you?”

Iwaizumi frowns. “Me?” He looks down at himself and instantly is reminded of what happened. His throat closes up.

"It's none of your business, idiot!" Iwaizumi settles for saying, hitting Oikawa in the back of the head.

"It is too!" Oikawa insists, and Iwaizumi notices the look of fear in his eyes. "You don't know how to swim!" Oikawa is searching his eyes now, looking for any hint of despair that Iwaizumi tries to conceal. He makes his decision.

“My dad kinda tried to drown me…” He mumbles, hands fidgeting. Although it is quiet, Oikawa hears.

“WHAT?!” Oikawa pushes him away to search his eyes, but Iwaizumi avoids his gaze.

“The town thinks I might also be a demon now… So they just thought that dunking me in holy water would keep me away from you.”

Oikawa's eyes flash red, and Iwaizumi holds him back. "Don't do anything, dumbass! If anything, you'll prove them right!"

"But Iwa-chan-"

"No!" Iwaizumi stands now, gripping Oikawa's collar. "You're not doing anything, and I doubt you could. It's an entire village, you moron!"

"I could-" Oikawa persists, but Iwaizumi headbutts him in the face, and Oikawa falls to the floor, holding his nose which is now definitely bleeding, spilling over from under his hand.

"You neanderthal!" Oikawa exclaims, shaking his other fist at him, but stops when he sees the look in Iwaizumi's eyes.

"I can't go back home, Oikawa," Iwaizumi is holding back tears now. "Where can I go?"

Oikawa seems to make a decision in the second that he sees Iwaizumi try to discreetly wipe away his tears with a sleeve. He stands up, pulling Iwaizumi to his side, a determined look in his eyes.

"We'll leave."

"Huh?" Iwaizumi demands, turning to look at Oikawa, convinced he has gone mad. 

"You heard me!" Oikawa puts his hands on his hips, looking up at the sky, his brown eyes gleaming. "We'll leave the forest and the town and the mountain behind. We'll start anew!"

"We're kids? How are we going to-"

Oikawa cuts him off, waving a dismissive hand at him. "We'll find a way. And if we can't find one, we'll make our own way!" He declares, giving Iwaizumi his biggest smile, and Iwaizumi has to look away.

"That was pretty cool of me to say, right Iwa-chan?" 

Iwaizumi snorts and folds his arms. "Sure..." Iwaizumi is not entirely convinced yet, and Oikawa notices.

"It doesn't matter to me wherever we go, Iwa-chan. As long as you're with me, I could do anything!" 

"You're so embarrassing!"

Oikawa gives him a serious look, one that does not fit on a nine year old's face. "I have never been more serious in my life." He is unflinching, unrelenting, and Iwaizumi cannot believe what he is about to do.

He reaches out one hand, but walks away from Oikawa, who squawks in disbelief, until he realizes what Iwaizumi is doing. Oikawa is laughing while he races up to him, taking his hand and swinging at back and forth.

"Where should we go first?" Oikawa asks, the smile never leaving his face. Iwaizumi shoots him a look.

"I have never been outside the forest," Iwaizumi responds, looking straight ahead. "Have you?"

"Never ever!" Oikawa beams, shooting him a peace sign with the hand that isn't holding Iwaizumi's. He shoots Oikawa a look of disbelief.

"So we have no idea where we're going, no idea where we'll sleep, no food or water, and no money. Is that correct?" Oikawa nods along to everything he had just said, still beaming. "Great..."

Iwaizumi sighs instead of smacking Oikawa. "We'll figure it out. After all, I feel the same." He pointedly ignores Oikawa's gaze, and a beat passes before his face heats up. Oikawa grasps his hand tighter.

"You're such a player, Iwa-chan! Just say that you'll go anywhere with me!"

"No way in hell!"

.

Hinata finally interrupts. "Man, your dad sucks!" Kageyama nods along beside him.

Iwaizumi laughs. "I know, I know he was trying to do the best for me, but..." He trails off, and Kageyama shoots Hinata a glare and elbows him in the ribs.

"What are you doing- Oh!" Hinata grasped the situation. "Um, um..."

Kageyama cuts him off. "And? Your feelings then?"

"My best friend. I would probably follow him to the moon and back when we were little!" Iwaizumi swallows. "Probably even now, if he didn't-"

"Don't worry, Iwaizumi-san!" Hinata declares. "We'll definitely knock some sense into him. We'll burst in with a gwah! And defeat him with a bam!" He looks especially proud of himself, hands in the air. "Right, Kageyama?"

"That's right," Kageyama says without hesitation. "We'll knock Oikawa sen- the Grand King down a peg, definitely."

They both look at Iwaizumi expectantly, and he clears his throat. "Yeah. We will." He flashes them a rare grin. "You guys are really heroes!" He says, and their eyes light up with stars. 

"Heroes!" Hinata repeats incredulously. "We're heroes, Kageyama!" Kageyama looks like he's trying to fight down a smile, twisting his face into many different expressions.

Iwaizumi is reminded of Oikawa suddenly, and pushes the thought far down.

.

“I saw it!” Their neighbor exclaims, pushing glasses further up her nose. “The demon boy left the village!”

There is panic rising between the villagers, and they turn to Iwaizumi’s parents.

The mother protests, saying he was controlled by the monster somehow and the father claims that the child took him by surprise.

“Hajime is a sweet boy,” he proclaims. “It’s that bastard demon- Taking my son…”

A young maiden raises her voice among the chaos, eyes terrified. “If the demon could take control of the boy, he could control other people as well, correct?”

It dawns down on all present.

They send out messages and letters through every means possible throughout the land- the demon must be contained for the sake of everyone.

It reaches far and wide, even across oceans, exaggerated tales of demons and kidnapped boys and suddenly there are rumors of bounties and an entire castle to be claimed, and everyone is now taking an interest in demons.

Just outside the boundaries of the forest, two boys shudder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *cracks kunckles* are y'all ready for the real story to begin?


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess who has too much free time on their hands
> 
> lmao i know i said that the story is gonna begin but it's at like the end of the chapter
> 
> but i promise, all the stuff in the beginning is v important!
> 
> with that said i'm also very grateful for all the comments and the kudos and the hits and basically everything so like i'm gonna hug all of y'all don't even fight it please enjoy this kinda super gay chapter

His parents are ecstatic, especially his mother.

She practically coos when Kuroo slams open the front door with a huge smile (that just looks evil in Kenma’s point of view) and bright eyes.

“Kenma! I’ve come over to play!” He declares loudly, and Kenma does not have the heart to tell his mother at the moment that Kuroo literally jumped out of a window without opening it, in their house, breaking the glass.

They’re sitting down to eat, and Kenma’s mother gets up and pushes Kuroo inside the house. She turns to Kenma with a catlike grin.

“You didn’t tell me you were friends with Kuroo?” She nearly yells, pushing Kuroo down onto the chair next to him. Kenma raises a brow.

“…Come again?” He whispers, but his father hears and ruffles Kenma’s hair.

“It’s good that you made friends with Kuroo after what happened to him- whoops, sorry! I didn’t bring up any bad memories, did I, Kuroo-kun?”

“No, it’s fine! I know my parents abandoned me…” He looks down at the table, and Kenma’s parents are lured in. Kenma had never felt so confused. “But since I have friends like Kenma, I know I’ll be alright!”

Kuroo directs the biggest shit-eating grin Kenma’s way, and Kenma throttles the urge to throw a ball of flame his way. Instead, he gives Kuroo his best bone chilling stare and relishes in the fact that Kuroo has to look away.

“…I’m not hungry. Kuroo, let’s go outside,” Kenma murmurs, pushing himself up from the table. Kuroo immediately follows suit, but not before sending another smile to his parents.

“Go outside?” Kenya’s mother shouts incredulously, but the two already are out the door.

“What was that?” Kenma demands, his voice raising. Kuroo shrugs. 

“I altered their memories. It was pretty easy, if I do say so myself!” He laughs. “Humans are so much fun to mess with!”

Kenma runs a hand down his face. “You’ve made your point. Now go.”

“Go? Go where?” Kuroo asks, trying to conceal the lilt of his lips- but failing.

“Go back to wherever you came from,” Kenma says, leaving Kuroo behind and going to the back of his house to sneak in through the window. Kuroo snickered, snapping his fingers and disappeared, only to reappear in front of Kenma, who took two steps back.

“I told you! I’ll leave when you bore me!” 

Kenma stares at him and without a word, sneaks in through the window.

.

“…That’s it, Shoyou…” Kenma mutters under his breath, pulling a hood to cover his head. 

“Whaaaat? No, that can’t be it!” Shoyou leaps from the log he’s been sitting on. “I know there’s more!”

Tobio tosses a rock at Shoyou’s head, hitting him directly between the eyes. “Some of us are trying to sleep, dumbass!” Tobio looks crankier than usual- bags under his eyes, messy hair.

“You’re missing Kenma’s story!” Shoyou shouts, and Tobio sits up from his makeshift bed. 

“How could I, when you keep fucking disturbing people’s sleep?!” Tobio turns to Kenma. “Not you, just this airhead.” Kenma nods sleepily.

Hajime opens one eye, and shifts slightly from where he was sleeping to turn to Kenma.

“I’ve slept enough. I’ll entertain Suns- Hinata, and you can sleep, Kenma.” He mutters drowsily.

Relieved, Kenma waves his staff, and suddenly there is a pillow behind his head and a blanket over him. He notices the others gaze at him almost enviously, and with another wave of his trusty staff, they all have pillows and blankets. Shoyou squeals in thanks and Tobio gives him a shaky grin.

Instead of sleeping, however, Kenma focuses on Hajime, who looks a little more awake and more comfortable.

“I was at the part when we were out of the forest, right?” Hajime asks for confirmation, and Shoyou nods aggressively.

.

Iwaizumi wondered when ‘come with me’ became ‘where are we going today?’

In the second that they passed over the makeshift border of the forest, which was just where the massive trees ended, Oikawa heaved a sigh of relief and Iwaizumi squatted down, panting heavily.

Oikawa tugs at his arm. “Look, look up Iwa-chan!”

He looks up.

The wide, open field is the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. Iwaizumi looks up at the night skies, laden with stars, and the large moon, sweeping its soft light over the land. There are all sorts of things that he’s never seen before, pink trees, bright green flowers, and grass nearly as tall as him. There is a weaving, clear river, cutting through the area.

Oikawa tightens his hold on Iwaizumi’s hand. “…Shall we go, Iwa-chan?”

“Yeah,” Iwaizumi loosens his grip to lace his fingers between the other boy’s, and they walk like that, wondering if the other can feel their hearts pounding through the connection of their palms, holding on.

They find a tree to sleep under, near the river, and Iwaizumi strips of his damp shirt, not exactly dry yet even though they spent an entire day (or more, they couldn’t tell in the forest) walking, and looking for food, settling on berries that Iwaizumi insisted weren’t poisonous, much to the doubt of Oikawa.

Iwaizumi lays his shirt on one of the lower branches as Oikawa cups water in his palm, gingerly taking a tiny sip.

“Is it okay to drink?” Iwaizumi asks, dragging heavy legs over to him. Oikawa nods rapidly between his gulps, and Iwaizumi thanks every god that exists for Oikawa’s highly tuned senses. Iwaizumi practically crawls over to the river, cupping some between his hands and slurping it greedily down. After they drink their fill, hoping that their stomachs quiet down after drinking themselves silly, they flop down next to each other, and Iwaizumi pulls Oikawa into his arms after a moment.

“Not a word. I’m cold,” Iwaizumi mutters, hiding his face in Oikawa’s shirt. Oikawa’s smile is smug, but he pulls Iwaizumi closer.

“I didn’t say anything, Iwa-chan.”

Iwaizumi swats at Oikawa’s arm gently. “You just did,” he mutters, but Oikawa is already asleep, his arms warm around his body.

 

To Iwaizumi’s surprise, Oikawa was the first awake. And he was chatting with somebody, too. Pushing down his fear, Iwaizumi yawned and forced himself up from the ground, putting on his shirt.

Joining Oikawa, he noticed that he was crying. Crying.

“What’s wrong?” Iwaizumi glared at the woman, grabbing Oikawa’s face between two hands. “Did you hurt him?”

The woman blinked, taking a step back, and Oikawa placed small hands over Iwaizumi’s, shaking his head as best he could.

“No,” he sniffled, and Iwaizumi raised an eyebrow. “I was just telling this lady,” a gasp, more tears. “About the bandits from last night…” Oikawa wiped a hand at wet eyes, sniffling, and Iwaizumi realized. Ohhhh.

Iwaizumi turned, and although he didn’t understand the situation, he feigned sadness. “I’m so sorry, miss, I thought…”

The lady cooed and pulled Iwaizumi into her arms. “There, there, child. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t try and hurt your brother!” Iwaizumi forced his expression to stay the same, instead of whirling around and demanding Oikawa just exactly what the hell was going on.

“Your dear little brother was just telling me that you got jumped by bandits last night!” The woman said, running a dainty hand through Iwaizumi’s hair. 

“We- We were trying to pick flowers for our mum, to surprise her, ya know?” Oikawa stammered, tugging at strands of his hair. “So we went out, and took our bags and food for lunch and dinner ‘cuz it might’ve taken a bit…” More tears. “The bandits took our food, and our bags…” Sharp inhales. “And then they knocked us out!” Oikawa leaped at Iwaizumi, and the woman opened her arms for him to join their hug.

“When I woke up I was so scaaared!” Oikawa yells, his hands in Iwaizumi’s shirt now. “I thought they killed you!” Iwaizumi tugged him closer, biting the inside of his mouth hard enough to make him teary eyed.

“I’m so sorry for worrying you…” Iwaizumi mumbled, freeing himself from the woman’s embrace and wrapping his arms around Oikawa. “I’m so, so sorry.” Iwaizumi raises a hand to wipe at Oikawa’s tears.

Oikawa shakes his head. “There’s nothing to apologize for! It was my idea…”

“No, please don’t blame yourself…” Iwaizumi’s voice is gentle.

The woman squeals next to them, clapping her hands together. “Brotherly love… How sweet!” She brushes dirt off of her dress, shooting them a grin. “My name is Michimiya Yui, but please call me Yui!”

She points a thumb behind her, and across the river, Iwaizumi sees a horse pulled carriage. “That’s my carriage. If you’re over here, then must you must be from Karasuno, right?”

Oikawa nods, finally releasing Iwaizumi. Iwaizumi wants to ask ‘what the heck is Karasuno’, but realizes it might ruin everything. Yui grins at them, toothy and bright. “Well, after you guys choose some flowers, I can take you back there! I also have some extra bread and fruits in the back, so-”

“We couldn’t possibly impose on you, Yui-san!” Oikawa speaks up, eyes too wide to be innocent, but perhaps that’s only through Iwaizumi’s vision.

“No, I insist! Please, I couldn’t leave two young boys out here in a field by themselves!” Yui protested, shoving them along. “Go take your time and pick some flowers. I’ll wait for you!”

Oikawa smiles up at her. “Thank you so much!” 

Iwaizumi grins at her, trying to make it less of a grimace and more of a smile that Oikawa wears. “Thank you very much,” he manages, and Oikawa pulls him away toward the flowers, and once Iwaizumi is sure that she won’t hear, he raises an eyebrow.

“Bandits?” Iwaizumi demands, and Oikawa chuckles under his hand.

“Obviously, I made it up, Iwa-chan!”

“That’s kind of mean…” Iwaizumi snorts anyway. “We have no idea who this lady is, yet we’re eating her food, taking advantage of her kindness, and letting her take us to a town we’ve never been to before,” he sighs, plucking some flowers at random. “We don’t even look like brothers!” Iwaizumi sighs. "Your story had some holes, but whatever..." Iwaizumi rips some flowers out of the dirt, wincing at the damage.

“Anyway,” Iwaizumi continues, choosing some purple flowers and attempting to pull them out of the ground without as much force as he used last time, “How did you cry so easily? I had to bite the inside of my mouth.”

Oikawa pops his head up from above the flowers, several flowers in hand in all sorts of different colors. “Magic!” he declares, and wiggles his eyebrows at Iwaizumi. “You were so gentle with me when I was crying… Perhaps I should cry more often!”

Iwaizumi resists the urge to smack him over the head, for he knows Yui is watching them. Instead, he settles for a deadly glare, and Oikawa steps back. 

“I should give you a reason to cry then…”

Oikawa chuckles nervously, then runs over to Yui, escaping the heat of his glare.

He presents a bright yellow flower to her, his smile nearly splitting his face. Iwaizumi can practically hear her falling for his charms, as she accepts it with a red face. He can read her face, and it's got 'boy, this kid's so cute!' written all over it.

To distract from her heated face, she calls over to Iwaizumi. “Ready to go?”

“Yes! Thank you!”

They board the carriage, Yui on one of the horses and the boys in the back.

Oikawa practically inhales two apples, and Iwaizumi finishes an entire loaf of cheesy bread in record time. They share the oranges and to Yui’s insistence, they each have a couple of slices of milk bread that she made, which Oikawa finishes with a sort of glow on his face.

Iwaizumi drops his voice so that Yui won’t hear them. “I wonder how big Karasuno is?” Oikawa chews a bit more before swallowing.

“Probably not too big,” he responds, licking the crumbs off of his fingers. “Maybe as big as Aoba Jousai at best.”

 

It is not as big as Aoba Jousai. It is bigger.

There were rivers and bigger buildings and a bustling town so filled with people you couldn’t see through streets clearly, and everyone was so huge. To their lefts, a market filled with people. To the right, another market filled with people. Guards stood to attention in the streets, upright and tense, ready to spring at any time. Street performers danced and sang and showed off magic- displays of battlefields in vivid color and people swimming through air. Large displays of light, and shows of water and fire, dancing in the air, embracing like lovers. The people around them are laughing and clapping, just as entranced as the two boys are.

Iwaizumi sucks in a breath. “This isn’t-” what I expected, Iwaizumi means to say, but is cut off.

Yui grins sheepishly at them. “I know we’re not at Karasuno yet, boys, but I had business in Shiratorizawa!”

“Shiratorizawa?” Oikawa asks, mostly to himself than anyone else.

Yui shoots him a teasing look. “Never really been outta Karasuno, I bet?” She hops off the horse, and points into the distance to a small shaded area that the boys have to squint to see. “Karasuno is over there.” She ruffles the back of her head, apologetic. “My horse needed food, so I stopped… Sorry?”

“No, no, Yui-san!” Iwaizumi shoots up. “You don’t need to apologize, you’ve already taken us so far!”

“That’s right!” Oikawa joins in. “We can take it from here! Thanks so much again!” He beams, grabbing Iwaizumi’s hand before they both can protest. “We’ll be off! Goodbye, Yui-san!” Oikawa waves, then dashes for it, dragging Iwaizumi along.

“Take care of yourselves! Make sure you get home safe to your mother!” Yui calls at their backs, her tone slightly worried, wondering if she should give chase.

Oikawa pulls Iwaizumi behind a wall, eyes alight.

“No.” Iwaizumi says before anything leaves Oikawa’s lips.

He shoots him a pout. “I haven’t said anything yet-”

“No, we are not exploring Shiratorizawa, idiot,” Iwaizumi growls out, prying his hand out of Oikawa’s.

“But Iwa-chan-”

“No.”

“Iwa-”

“No.

“Iwa-chaaaaaa-”

“Shut up, Oikawa!” Iwaizumi shouts, then runs a hand down his face as he sees Oikawa’s bottom lip trembling.

“You are not doing that shit to me.”

Oikawa’s eyes get teary, and he grabs the ends of Iwaizumi’s shirt, hands quavering. 

“Oh my god, Oikawa. Stop,” Iwaizumi pleads, trying not to look at the full force of Oikawa’s puppy eyes.

“Mean. Iwa-chan is mean. Meanie, meanie, meanie,” Oikawa murmurs, and Iwaizumi’s shirt would now be forever wrinkled. “I just… Iwa-chan is so mean. Mean, mean, mean.”

“We have no money,” Iwaizumi protests weakly, and Oikawa catches on to that one second of hesitation, and rides on it.

“It doesn’t matter!” Oikawa insists, forcing Iwaizumi to meet his stare. “Do you not want to be with me…?” Oikawa frowns, looking away now. 

“…Fine. I’ll go.” The second he says it, Oikawa’s face lights up, and Iwaizumi scowls.

“Alright! No take backs, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa beams, taking his hand.

“That’s so unfair,” Iwaizumi protests. “You can’t do things like that, then completely change your personality, moron.”

“Unfair?” Oikawa’s voice is calm. “What’s so unfair about wanting to keep someone important to you by your side, no matter what?”

Iwaizumi swallows nervously. What was that even supposed to mean?

.

“Whipped…” Both Hinata and Kageyama breathe out, and Iwaizumi gives them a firm look. They compose themselves quickly.

Kenma says nothing, gaze unwavering.

.

It turns out that Oikawa was really, really popular with people of all ages. 

Everywhere they walked, they would stare- kids with flushed faces, teenagers with lingering stares, adults with wide eyes, and older people that wouldn’t even hide the fact that they were staring.

Oikawa soaked up the attention like a sponge, grinning at everything and everyone, putting on a show. He did everything with more flair than usual- a skip in his step, a cheery tone in his voice. He knew the people were watching him, and loved it.

“Ooh, let’s go over here, Iwa-chan!”

“Look at these things, Iwa-chan!”

“Hurry up, you slowpoke!”

Iwaizumi was getting fed up with him when he was dragged over to a clothing shop, and was about to voice his anger when Oikawa reached into his pockets and let out a high-pitched shriek.

Iwaizumi hurried to cover his ears. “What are you doing, you moron?!” 

Instead of responding, Oikawa wails. “Somebody took my money, Iwa-chan!”

“Money- Wait,” Iwaizumi starts, but Oikawa cuts him off once more.

“It must’ve been in that crowd- I was saving up money to buy you a new shirt for your birthday, too…” Oikawa trails off, wiping at his face, and the two boys had gained attention from the crowd.

Iwaizumi hears snippets of their words, carrying across the wind.

“Who could’ve done such a thing?”

“And to a child, too…”

“There are some horrible people out there, honestly…”

A young man approaches the front of the crowd to where Oikawa is, leaning down to his eye level. He brushes Oikawa’s hair from his face, and Oikawa peers up at him through dark, wet lashes.

“I’ll buy your friend the shirt, okay? Please, don’t cry…”

Oikawa’s face brightens a tad, then droops. “I couldn’t- That wouldn’t be-”

The man lets out a hearty chuckle. “It’s fine. I will pay, I insist!” He turns to Iwaizumi, then gestures to the store. “Go on. Pick anything you like, kid.” He smiles, and guilt wells up in Iwaizumi’s chest, but instead of protesting, he forces a stiff ‘thank you’ from his mouth and picks out a white sweater with a hood.

The man pays for it with a grand smile, ruffles the boy’s heads, then walks off. “Make sure you don’t lose your money next time, okay kid?!”

Oikawa waves with a smiling face at his back. “We won’t!”

As soon as the crowd disperses, Iwaizumi hauls Oikawa off, looking for an empty street, and when he does, he drops Oikawa unceremoniously on the floor.

“Hey! That hurt, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa complained, glaring at him half-heartedly.

“Good!” Iwaizumi snapped, turning to face the low walls of the alleyway instead of Oikawa’s face. Oikawa, finally sensing the tension in the air, gulped.

“What’s wrong, Iwa-chan?” He asks finally, getting up and brushing invisible dust off of his pants.

“What’s wrong?” Iwaizumi shouts, and Oikawa is taken aback by the look in Iwaizumi’s eyes. “What’s wrong?!” Iwaizumi throws his head back and laughs, and laughs. Dread spreads through Oikawa’s very being, clinging at his thoughts, at the strings of his heart, and it consumes him.

“Iwa-chan…?” Oikawa’s voice trembles on the way out of his mouth.

“You can’t keep lying to get things, Oikawa!” Iwaizumi swivels around to meet his stare. “These are good people- You’re taking advantage of them!”

“What’s so wrong about that?” Oikawa yells, surprising both himself and Iwaizumi, forcing him into the walls behind him. “We needed to get to a town. We needed food. You needed a shirt!”

“The way you went about to get those things was wrong!” Iwaizumi retorts, and Oikawa snorts.

“Then, why didn’t you say anything, if you knew it was wrong? Clearly, you’re trying to be a knight in shining armour, but all you’re being is a hypocrite!” Oikawa’s fists clench at his sides.

“At least I can acknowledge when I do something wrong!” Iwaizumi spits, backing Oikawa into a corner, and Oikawa is quiet. Although they are surrounded by noise, the only sound around them is their own heavy panting.

“I’m sorry…”

“Huh?! What did you say, Oikawa?”

“Iwa-chan, I’m so, so sorry…” Tears well up in Oikawa’s eyes, and Iwaizumi nearly jumps back in shock. “I’m sorry I took advantage of those people. I’m sorry I lied to them. I’m sorry, please don’t hate me…”

Iwaizumi grunts. “You should apologize to those people instead of me, honestly, you dumbass.”

Oikawa’s nose is snotty and his eyes are red as he regards Iwaizumi. He sighs, and opens his arms for Oikawa. “C’mere.”

Oikawa trudges over to Iwaizumi and sniffles in his embrace.

“We’ll find another way to make money, okay? Just don't ever do something like that ever again!"

“How ‘r kids s’posed teh make money?” Oikawa blubbers, voice muffled by Iwaizumi’s shirt. He can feel a damp spot on his shirt, and Iwaizumi prays that it is only tears and not snot. “We’re too young teh get a job…” 

“You could beg for it,” Iwaizumi says with a smirk, and is rewarded with a hit to his arm.

Oikawa suddenly leaps out of Iwaizumi’s arms, eyes still red with tears but shining with light. “We could perform magic! Like those amazing people on the street!”

Iwaizumi laughs. “You could. I’m as human as humans could be!”

“You could be my ever so faithful assistant!” Oikawa continues on, practically shining. “We could put on a show! It would be great!”

“For you! You’d probably just throw me around, or something. And besides, if you use too much magic, your horns appear!” Iwaizumi counters, giving him a look.

“Then what can we do, exactly?” Oikawa asks, playing with his hair. 

“We could get a normal job, in a normal place, for normal people.”

Oikawa whines, and the sound is pitiful. “But that’s so boring, Iwa-chan!” Iwaizumi puts his hands on his hips.

“Fine. You’ll try your way, I’ll try mine. We’ll meet back here tonight, and we’ll see how good it’ll work out. If your way is more efficient, then we’ll do your way,” Iwaizumi declares, fixing his posture. “If I find a job that makes more money than your performance, we’ll do the job. If you do a performance that makes tons of money, we’ll do that, okay?”

The corner of Oikawa’s mouth turns up. “Okay!” He spreads his arms wide, beckoning at Iwaizumi.

“…What?”

“I want a hug. For good luck!” 

“…Urgh,” Iwaizumi hugs him awkwardly. “Meet back here, tonight, alright? In this alleyway. Don't forget.”

“Yes yes, mother!” Oikawa salutes, and Iwaizumi shoots him a glare that has him scampering off, laughing.

He’s going to regret this.

 

Oikawa scampers off, a huge grin adorning his face. This would be so easy- nobody gives kids good paying jobs, and Oikawa is sure to wow the passerby with his magic. It didn’t hurt that he had a nice face as well, and it seemed that everyone knew it, although he was a just a kid. Oikawa had seen what he would look like in the future too, and was incredibly grateful.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t just rip people off now, because that made Iwa-chan upset. He doubted stealing would win him any sort of prize- Iwa-chan would be sure to rip him a new one if he ever did. And Iwa-chan had already been so lenient to him today, brushing away his tears, accepting his hugs, and holding his hand for longer than usual.

He never wanted Iwa-chan to look at him the way he did in the alleyway ever again.

Judging from the sun in the sky, it was about two or three in the afternoon. There were plenty of people bustling about, selling tomes and magic items and just plain old street food, so he chose a busy corner where nobody had set up shop, took a deep breath, and lit his hand with blue flame.

 

Iwaizumi traveled the streets, but not too far from the alleyway- He didn’t want to get lost in the crowds. There were many shops hiring, but they all turned him down, saying that he was too young to work in such places.

Still, Iwaizumi kept his head up, wandering and peering into windows and speaking to vendors, he’d gotten three silver coins for helping one lift heavy objects, but no real paying jobs.

Gliding down a hill, he saw that this place looked rather different from the colourful, bustling streets of the main market. It seemed more lifeless, with less people, only the sound from the other streets carrying over. Straightening his back, he went into the door of the first shop he saw.

The sign read ‘Sakanoshita Tea & Convenience- NOW HIRING RIGHT NOW WE’RE HIRING NOW.’

Despite the silent streets, Iwaizumi opened the door and was greeted by a full house, screeching, and a man flying across the room. It was only day, yet Iwaizumi could see more grog in their cups than tea- the men hardly spared him a glance as he stepped inside, closing the door behind him.

Stepping over the bodies of unconscious men, he stepped over to the counter to a middle aged man with strangely styled blond hair, chewing on a cigar. The man barely acknowledged his existence until he coughed, and he sat up straight, dropping the cigar onto the counter.

“How can I- Oh, It’s just a kid. Why are you here?” The man demanded, pulling out a newspaper from underneath the table, pretending to read it. Iwaizumi noticed his eyes rested in the same spot- definitely trying to pretend.

“I want a job, sir!” He announces, and although the merriment in the background does not stop, it feels like it does when the man gives him a look up and down.

“You’re a kid,” the blond repeats. “Go home!” 

“Please,” Iwaizumi bows his head, and the man at the counter gets flustered. “I need this job.” Some guys peer over at them, and the man gets even more flustered, smacking his newspaper down to the table.

“Don’t bow to me! You’re a kid, some people might think I’m a bad guy!” The man whisper shouts, pulling Iwaizumi up by the shoulders. Iwaizumi stiffens, keeping his body in place, and the man sighs.

“This place is pretty sketchy, ya know?”

“I don’t care! …Sir.”

The blond narrows his eyes, then grins lopsidedly. “Alright. I’m Ukai Keishin, but that will be Ukai-san, to you, okay?”

Iwaizumi perks up and tries to give the man his best grin. “Yes! When do I start?”

Ukai gets up and disappears in the back, but returns shortly with an apron and a mop. “Now. Clean the floors. I’ll pay you depending on how you work. Minimum is seven gold coins a day.”

Iwaizumi nods, pulling the apron over his head, and heads over to the spots with visible marks and vomit, trying to force down the bile rising in his throat. A man approaches him from behind, and Iwaizumi turns, thinking it’s Ukai, but instead sees a man twice his size with a permanent scowl.

Instead of speaking, the man hands him a card, then nods, and is about to leave before Iwaizumi calls him back. 

“Um, what is this?” He asks, before tacking on a ‘sir’ at the end.

The man’s voice is gruff, like he hadn’t spoke in a long, long time. “You wanted a job, right?” 

Iwaizumi peers down at the card.

‘EAGLE ARENA’ it reads. ‘SEARCHING FOR CONTESTANTS. ALL AGES WELCOME. 

Iwaizumi looks up, but the man is gone, so he turns the card over, hoping for more information.

‘WINNER RECEIVES FIFTY THOUSAND GOLD COINS. HURRY, THERE ARE ONLY SO FEW CONTESTANTS!’

He contemplates dashing off into the streets to try and ask the man what exactly the contestants are supposed to do in Hawk Arena, but Ukai shouts at him to get going, so he starts mopping the disgusting floors.

Fifty thousand gold coins, Iwaizumi ponders. Fifty thousand.

What sort of job could land you fifty thousand gold coins?

**Author's Note:**

> Hopefully I can update this soon! Thank you for reading this chapter!


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